There are still fewer leased and built offices than two years ago, but there is an upward trend in the office sector. Last year, some regional markets saw a sizable increase in demand, even compared to 2019, Walter Herz reports.

Premium rents in Prague to rise and interesting incentives from landlords are expected. There is also a growing interest in office rents in Brno, which is responding to the growth in rents over the past two years. Premium rents also grew slightly in Ostrava. Leasing activity in Bratislava is keeping pace with new construction and, together with Vienna, is expecting a recovery. In Warsaw, upward pressure on premium rents will grow, but there is likely to be an easing of existing incentives for tenants. Budapest is gradually recovering from the covid crisis. Rents will remain stable this year, reports CBRE.

There is increased demand for all categories of property assets in Romania, with office and industrial set to continue their growth streak this year. Property Forum talked to Victor Constantinescu, Managing Partner of Kinstellar’s Bucharest office and Co-Head of the firm-wide Real Estate practice, about the impact of the pandemic on Romania’s real estate market and how the country’s property investment potential can be harnessed in the next years.

Wola Center, the office building in Warsaw acquired by the Hines European Value Fund (HEVF 1) in 2020, and subsequently managed by global real estate firm Hines, has received a BREEAM In-Use Excellent certification.

GTC has handed over the Pillar office building in Budapest which will almost fully be occupied by ExxonMobil. This BTS project was the biggest pre-lease ever (29,000 sqm) on the Hungarian office market.

Colliers published a survey of the Prague office market for Q4 2021. It shows that the vacancy rate stopped rising last year due to weak construction and rents rose to a new high. The market with modern office space will not increase significantly even in 2022.

As Romania has eliminated all pandemic restrictions earlier this week, companies plan to increase the number of employees returning to the office in the near future. 

Reducing carbon emissions is surely becoming a top priority for landlords especially since numerous investors have committed to reaching net-zero emissions. At the same time, they’re also discovering that digital tools can help improve occupancy in office buildings which often stand half-empty these days due to widespread remote working. It’s high time for the industry to use disruptive technology and invest in digitization to improve utilization of space and reduce carbon emissions, says a new report on ESG and digitalization in the office market by workcloud24.

French asset management company MNK Partners has added the NC3 building in Warsaw to its MNK One portfolio. The office building is located on ul. Postępu in the city's Służewiec business district. The value of transaction has not been disclosed. 

Ghelamco has announced the sale of office buildings together with a retail and service passage in The Warsaw HUB complex. Google Poland is the purchaser, one of the main tenants of the building.